Help! Cat Freaks Out In Crate Rest

[KarenKat]

Hey everyone. Gohan has pain in his spine and the vet recommended 4 weeks on crate rest. The important thing g is no jumping, and I’m sure the stairs are not good either. We bought the biggest dog crate we could, with a nice pad. We placed his litterbox, food and water inside and at the height of his pain meds my BF put him inside. I wasn’t there, but my BF stayed for a few min as Gohan realized he was confined. Gohan started eating some food and my BF left the room so he could rest and get acclimated.

That’s when Gohan freaked out trying to leave and upended the litter, water, and food. Poor guy still has some litter stuck to him even after we tried to clean him up.

How can we start this crate process and maintain the necessities for him? The current plan is to expand the crate using one of those playpen tents, separate the litterbox into one area and add his cave bed in another. Cover the crate with a towel to make it cozier. And I guess wait it out.

He is super bonded with my BF (rescued by him as a feral kitten) and has been following him around while he’s been hurt. So I was also thinking BF should stay in the room with him until he sleeps.

I have lots of enrichment ideas to try as long as he’s a bored or sad kitty in the cage (new toys, cat TV on a laptop, even a goldfish maybe) but getting past this first part is heartbreaking and super difficult.

I’m so worried that Gohan will hurt himself more in the crate, that we will be so frustrated that we won’t do it and he will not recover, and I’m near tears. I felt like I could handle 4 weeks of the crate rest but I have trouble when I can’t even start it. I’ve read some threads on here about people being successful at it, and ways to make it bearable for human and cat. But how did you transition your kitties into accepting the cage without upsetting everything? Do we need a sedative, or just time and patience?

 

[ArtNJ]

Your as knowledgeable as most of us Karen, and you know this cat best, so I think you need to trust your gut subject to vet advice. That said, if my vet gave me this advice for my older cat I would certainly be a little skeptical it was best, and want to grill him about the benefits vs a sedative as the alternative, so we seem to be on the same wavelength there? Heck, my older cat is not very active anyway. And while cats don't *show* pain, they do *feel* it and will avoid doing stuff that hurts, right? So I assume the spine condition was making him less active than normal and avoid jumping and playing, if he did that before? To me, the biggest argument for confinement would be if the other cats refuse not to jump on him or if he is just bulling through the pain and continuing his old activity level at times.

Sorry not more helpful. Guess I just wanted to say that I think I'd be thinking about it the same way you are? Support and best wishes.

 

[KarenKat]

Thanks. The little idiot is still trying to jump up on places, and he is in obvious pain which for a cat I know means a lot. He gets the most comfort from the BF, but I worry that when he’s feeling mildly better he might hurt himself by doing something he shouldn’t.

I also considered confining him to one room when we are asleep or not home and removing most heights. Maybe that’s a better solution ...

 

[ArtNJ]

I don't see how a carefully picked and set up room would lead to more activity than a crate unless he is still getting the daily crazies. So I think I agree that might be better if you have such a room available.

What is wrong with his spine? Is it just an inflamed disk like people get and rest will calm the inflammation?

In thinking about it more, I guess the problem with sedatives is that it while they would reduce his overall activity level, they would also reduce his pain so he might at times do things he shouldn't unless totally zonked with a big dose.

 

[KarenKat]

He has some mild arthritis in the middle of the spine, and then the vertebrae that connect to the pelvis flare out in a way that I guess is abnormal? The vet - who was a surgeon specialist - said he had some instability in that area and so the bones grew this way to stabilize it. He probably had some amount of pain from that, and maybe a burst of activity or something wrenched it so it was pinching nerves. I think? All we know is one day he came down the stairs and could barely walk and had no tail movement. We rushed him to the emergency vet that night and they took xrays and saw the abnormalities on the spine. The follow up was with this new surgeon who explained the issue she saw from the xrays and recommended pain meds and crate rest.

 

[ArtNJ]

Awe poor guy. This one resonates with me as I'm going to have serious problems with my back someday. Currently its not so serious -- when I have a flare up, I just try to move like an old man and it usually goes away after a week or two. And wouldn't you know -- I'm in week two of trying to deal with a flare up now, trying to move old man style. Wife really appreciates it when I try and get out of garbage and such, sigh. Anyway, rest is always the first thing to try for humans, hopefully it will work here. Fingers crossed.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I also considered confining him to one room when we are asleep or not home and removing most heights. Maybe that’s a better solution ...

I like this idea! Cannot imagine crating a pet that has been able to roam free for years and years. I wouldn't do it to Feeby even if my vet told me to.

Feeby has two nearly fused vertebrae in her upper spine/lower neck and some arthritis in some toes and an elbow. We think her age has caused the vertebrae to become a source of irritation for her at times - as she now limps off and on. Otherwise, besides slowing down some, she is her normal self. She stops jumping on things when it is bugging her, but then the moment it must be getting better she is back jumping up on things. They haven't told me there is much that can be done for her (she is now on Glyco Flex Plus for the arthritis), so as long as she isn't showing significant signs of pain, and continues to wisely slow herself down when she is bothered, I am going to let her (mostly) decide how to confine herself.

 

[Kflowers]

First sympathy to both of you.

This is just a suggestion if you continue to crate him.

My solution for tipping over the litter box -- which was frightening to read about since he could have been hit by the side of it. Push the litter box up against the side and back of the crate. Use vices clamps for workshops to clamp the box to the crate walls. I'd suggest the ones that you can screw to tighten as being the easiest to use and the most stable.

 

[KarenKat]

Figured I would provide an update in case this may help others in the future.

We never tried the crate again. Instead, we are keeping Gohan in the spare bedroom that we use for an office. Brought him all his necessities along with some toys, his cat bed and a tunnel. We bought him an area rug to make the hardwood more comfy.

We removed the top of his cat tree, so the tallest thing in the room is about waist high. It’s a compromise for sure ... he probably would heal faster in a cage but he would most likely be miserable. This way he heals a little slower but has a nicer time. He gets 1 mL of pain meds twice per day, and after he is nice and drugged we let him have supervised visits in the house. Mostly he crawls into Randall’s lap and sleeps.

As for his health, he seems stronger everyday and his tail is getting slowly perkier. At first his tail was like a limp fish with no movement. Not he can raise it about halfway and we saw the tip twitch a bit yesterday. He’s in pretty good spirits for being confined, although it helps that he has a window and this is a room he would retreat to often if he wanted space. I think he likes being visited by Trin when Trin doesn’t steal his bed, and he would prefer if the tortie would leave him alone. She’s getting very impudent without Gohan to sherif her and keep her in her place. The bottom picture is a demonstration of her troubled ways and rabble-rousing loafiness.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Sounds like you found a compromise plan that is working! Glad to hear Gohan is improving! Maybe once he is recovered, he can go back to work "sheriff-ing" your little tortie!

 

[KarenKat]

Thanks, I’m happy it’s a compromise that works for humans and kitties alike. I’m not sure we would have adjusted to a crate rest either lol!